Turret type coring unit

ABSTRACT

A machine for stemming, coring and slicing pears includes a horizontal plane indexing turret having six fruit cups moving to feed, stemming, coring, slicing and idle stations. The cups are pivotally supported by a discharge cam. The tools are mounted on a vertically reciprocating nonrotatable carriage above the turret, so that one individual operation is performed at each station. The cups have jaws that are opened slightly at the slicing station and closed at the stemming station.

United States Patent 1 Manfre et a1.

TURRET TYPE CORING UNIT Inventors: Ben Louis Manfre; Peter WernerForcella, both of San Jose, Calif.

Assignee: FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif.

Filed: June 16, 1971 Appl. No.: 153,552

US. Cl 99/547, 99/545 Int. Cl A23n 3/08 Field of Search 146/52; 99/545,547

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1967 Anderson 146/52 X 2/1944Erickson 146/52 June 12, 1973 2,227,794 1/1941 Phillips 146/52 3,319,6785/1967 Anderson 146/52 Primary Erqn i ierwillie G. AbercrombieAttorney-F. W. Anderson and C. E. Tripp [57] ABSTRACT A machine forstemming, coring and slicing pears includes a horizontal plane indexingturret having six fruit cups moving to feed, stemming, coring, slicingand idle stations; The cups are pivotally supported by a discharge cam.The tools are mounted on a vertically reciprocating nonrotatablecarriage above the turret, so that one individual operation is performedat each station. The cups have jaws that are opened slightly at theslicing station and closed at the stemming station.

8 Claims, 21 Drawing Figures PAIENTED I 2 I975 m m E V W BEN L. MANFREPETER W. FORCELLA ATTORNEYS TURRET TYPE CORING UNIT DESCRIPTION OF PRIORART The U.S. Pat. Nos. to Anderson 3,199,558, Aug. 10, 1965; Anderson3,269,441, Aug. 30, 1966; and Anderson 3,351,114, Nov. 7, 1967 disclosea belt-type fruit cup conveyor above which a row of stemming, coring andslicing tools is mounted on an oscillating carriage.

The U.S. Pat. to Chamberlin No. 3,305,074, Feb. 21, 1967 shows a fruitcup with gear sector connected jaws that can be opened and closed alonga belt conveyor.

The U.S. Pat. to Bridge No. 2,437,637, Mar. 9, 1948 shows a horizontalplane indexed fruit cup turret with a set of coring and slicing toolsfor each cup mounted to rotate with the turret and reciprocated by afixed barrel cam.

The U.S. Pat. to Perkins No. 3,396,766, Aug. 13, 1968, discloses anartichoke preparation machine having an indexed turret, carryinggripping jaws which carry the fruits past a saw, beneath a rotary cutterand beneath a core pruner, the latter two tools being raised and loweredindividually by cam controlled fluid cylinders.

The U.S. Pat. to Deitz No. 2,076,496, Apr. 6, 1937, shows a tomatocoring and peeling machine having an indexed table with fruit receivingopenings, a vertically reciprocating nonrotatable carriage. The fruit issimultaneously cored from below and peeled by a carriage mounted peeler,after which the table carries the cored and peeled fruit over a rotaryknife to slice off the tops. A hold-down on the carriage functions atthe slicing station.

The U.S. Pat. to Thompson No. 2,526,712, Oct. 24, 1950, (FIGS. 8 and 32)shows cammed jaw members on a transfer turret that can be closed tocenter the fruit for transfer.

In the U.S. Pat. to Gardiner, No. 2,788,037, Apr. 9, 1957, the toolsrotate with the turret and the fruit is gripped between upper and lowerfingers.

The U.S. Pat. to Pease No. 2,509,781, May 30, 1950, shows spring loadedapple gripping jaws.

The U.S. Pat. to Gardiner No. 1,886,388, Nov. 8, 1932, shows anartichoke trimming and coring machine having a Geneva drive for thetable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention represents a simpleturret type coring unit that can be fed and attended to by one operatorand which simultaneously performs a stemming, coring and slicingoperation for each indexed position of the turret, but on differentfruits. A peeled fruit such as a pear is placed in a cup at the feedstation, and a stemmed, cored and sliced pear is correspondinglydischarged from a discharge station remote from the feed station. Thisis accomplished by arranging a series of at least five fruit cups on ahorizontal plane, indexed turret. A vertically reciprocating,nonrotatable carriage is mounted above the turret which carriage hascircumferentially spaced stemming, coring and slicing tools that operatesimultaneously on different fruits when the carriage is brought downtoward the fruits in the circumferentially spaced row of fruit cups onthe turret. The entire cups are pivotally mounted on the turrets andsupported in a manner which causes their fruit receiving openings toface up for feeding and for operation by the tools, but when each cupreaches the discharge station, its support is removed, whereby theentire cup falls down about its pivot causing discharge of the processedfruit.

Another feature of the invention is that the fruit cups themselves havejaws that can open and close slightly. Althoughthis is known generallyin the art (see the Chamberlin patent), in accordance with the presentinvention, means synchronized with the reciprocation of the verticallymoving carriage opens the cup jaws slightly during the slicing operationand the jaws remain open until their cups reach the stemming tools,whereupon the jaws are closed somewhat to center the pears in the cupsfor stemming. The jaws remain closed until the cups are again under theslicing tool.

Another feature of the invention relates to simple mechanism for causingdischarge of sliced processed pears from the turret. As previouslymentioned, and as opposed to the United States Bridge patent, eachentire cup is pivotally mounted on the turret, the pivot being offcenter relative to the vertical axis of the cup. The undersides of thecups are supported by cam rollers which ride along the upper surface ofa fixed cam beneath the turret. A relief portion of the fixed camaccommodates falling of the cups from their upwardly facing position toa horizontal position for discharge of the processed fruits at thedischarge station.

Another feature of the invention is that a single motor driven camshaftreciprocates the nonrotatable tool mounting carriage, indexes the turretand operates a stem ejector in the stemming tube. Thus, with therelatively simple fruit processing apparatus of the present invention, amachine tended by a single operator can, for example, stem, core andslice peeled pears or the like at the rate of about 15 30 per minute.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan diagram of theturret of the present invention showing the various work stations.

FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram of the machine.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the machine looking toward the coring tool.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are sections taken as indicated on FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a section of the machine along lines 4 4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of one of the cups.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of one of the cups with parts broken away.

FIG. 7 is a section taken on line 7 7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a section taken on line 8 8 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of one of the cups showing how it issupported by the cup cam.

FIG. 10 is a developed view at the discharge station.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary section showing the cup opening operation atthe slicing station.

FIGS. 12 to 17A are sequential operational diagrams of the stemmingunit.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus embodyingthe present invention is indicated at 10 and includes a horizontal planeindexed turret plate T mounted on a vertical shaft 11. I

The turret T is circumferentially apertured to receive six fruit cups20, and is indexed through the angular spacing between these cups. Thecups 20 are normally disposed with their upper edges flush with the topof the turret plate T.

A vertically reciprocating carriage 12 is slidably mounted on the shaft11 by a sleeve 13. The carriage 12 mounts a stemming tool ST, a coringtool C and a slicer S so that these tools are brought down against thefruit in fruit cups 20, and are retracted therefrom by reciprocation ofthe carriage. The turret T also provides a feed station F and adischarge station D, there being an idle station X between the dischargeand feed stations. The shaft 1 1 for the turret is indexed by a Genevagear assembly having a driven wheel 14 (FIG. 2) mounted on the shaft 11and rotated by a driver 16 operated from a gear box 18 of conventionaldesign. The gear box 18 is driven by a gear box sprocket 21, a chain 22,a camshaft sprocket 24 mounted on. a camshaft 26, a camshaft drivingsprocket 28, a chain 30 and a sprocket 31 on a planetary reducer 32, thelatter being driven by a motor M.

The carriage 12 is lowered to bring the tools down against the fruit incups 20 and retracted by a cam 40 (FIG. 2) mounted on the cam shaft 26that operates a bell crank cam follower mechanism indicated generally at42 and connected to the carriage in a manner to be described in detailpresently.

The stemming tool ST includes a stemming tube 110 and a stem ejector rod120 (FIG. 3) which will also be described in detail presently. The stemejector rod 120 must be operated independently of the carriage l2 andthis is accomplished by a cam 50 (FIG. 2) on the camshaft 26, operatingan ejector cam bell crank follower mechanism indicated generally at 52.

The coring unit C has a rotary knife 180 (FIG. 3) which is rotated bymeans of a gear box 54 (FIG. 2) driven by a V-belt and pulley assembly56 from the motor M. A flexible shaft 58 shown fragmentarily in FIG. 2connects the gearbox 54 to the coring unit 60 for rotating the coringknife 180.

Thus, to summarize, the general mode of operation of the invention thusfar described, assume the turret to be empty. An operator places apeeled pear in the cup 20 at the feed station F when the turret isstationary and the carriage retracted to an upper position. The turretis then indexed by the Geneva gearing 14, 16 to transport the pear fromthe feed station F to a zone beneath the stemming tool ST whereupon theturret momentarily stops. The cam mechanism 50,52 lowers the carriage 12which stems the fruit and ejects the stem from the stemming tube bymeans of the cam 50 and the cam follower arm 52 which will be describedpresently.

During the descent of the carriage, an operator will place another pearin the feed station F and this will take place during every dwell periodof the turret.

The first stemmed pear P will be indexed to the coring tool C which isbrought down by the carriage 12 against the fruit and the rotatingcoring knife 180 enters the hole produced by the stemmer ST to removethe seed cells in a manner generally known in the art. The next indexingof the carriage brings the first stemmed and cored fruit beneath theslicer S whereupon the carriage l2 descends again and the slicing tool Shalves the fruit. As will be seen, each cup 20 has moveable jaws andthese jaws will be closed for stemming and coring but will be openedsomewhat during tion (FIG. 10) in a manner to be described presently,for discharge of the halved pear P to a discharge chute 59. The cups arereturned to their fruit receiving position and each cup passes throughan idle station X (FIGS. 1 and 2) at which no operation is performed.

Carriage FIGS. 3, 3A, 3B and 4 show important details of the carriagetool assembly and their mounting on the frame of the machine. Referringto these figures, the frame work is made up of structural elementsincluding base elements 60, rear vertical posts 62 (FIG. 3), frontvertical posts 64,64a (FIG. 4) and upper frame elements 66. The verticalshaft 11 for the turret is mounted in lower bearings (FIG. 4) on thelower frame elements and upper bearings 72 on the upper frame elements.The gear box for the Geneva drive 16 is mounted on frame elements 67(FIG. .4) in a manner not critical to the present invention. Asmentioned, the carriage indicated generally at 12 is formed with avertical sleeve 13 that surrounds the vertical turret shaft 11 and fromwhich projects a lateral flange 78. (FIGS. 3A and 4). As seen in FIGS.3A and 4, an outer edge plate 79 on the flange 78 reciprocates in avertical guide 80 secured to the vertical frame element 64, therebypreventing rotation of the carriage as it is reciprocated.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the carriage reciprocating follower mechanism 42includes a bell crank 82 pivoted to the frame at 84 by means of abracket 86 projecting from a transverse frame element 88. One end of thebell crank 82 mounts a cam follower roller 90 and the other end ispivoted at 91 to a link 92, the lower end of which is pivoted at 93 toan ear 94 projecting from the carriage flange 78 (FIGS. 3, 3A and 4).The link 92 provides a turnbuckle type adjustment to accommodaterefinements in the lowermost position of the carriage. Thus, rotation ofthe cam shaft 26 and the carriage reciprocating cam 40 oscillates thebell crank 82 and hence reciprocates the carriage 12 vertically alongthe turret shaft 11.

Stemming Tool Continuing the general description of the apparatus, theconstruction of the stemming tool S will now be described in connectionwith FIGS. 3 to 4. Subsequently, the operation of that tool will bedescribed in more detail relative to the diagrams of FIGS. 12 to 17A. Aframe bracket projects from the vertical frame element 64 (FIG. 4) andmounts a horizontal platform 102 (see also FIGS. 3 and 3B). Upstandingfrom the platform 102 is a fixed cylindrical guide member 104 (FIG. 3)and projecting up from the guide is a hold-down rod 106. The longstemming tube 110, having a sharpened lower end, is mounted for verticalreciprocation with the carriage 12. The stemming tube is secured to thecarriage 12 by means of frame brackets 112, 114, best seen in FIG. 3,these brackets being bolted to the carriage plate 78 previouslymentioned. A latch release pin 113 projects up from the lower bracket112 (FIG. 12 et seq.). The stemming tube 110, being fixed to the bracket114, reciprocates with the carriage and hence when the carriagedescends, the stemming tube is forced through the stem zone of the pearsP in the cup 20. that is disposed at the stemming station.

. As best seen in FIGS. 12 17, a hold-down is provided to keep the pearsin their cups when the stemming tube is withdrawn after the stemmingoperation (FIG. This hold-down structure is provided in the form of acentrally apertured pad 119 (see also FIG. 3) that receives the stemmingtube 110 and which pad is slideably mounted in the guide 104 previouslydescribed by means of rods 122 extending upwardly from the pad. Theupper ends of the rods 122 mount a latch support plate 124 having anangled latch support block 126 that loosely mounts a latch plate 128 bymeans of a bolt 130 on the block 126. The latch plate 128 is aperturedto slideably receive the hold-down rod 106 previously described and itsaction will be described in detail in conjunction with FIGS. 12 to 17A,as previously mentioned. The stem ejector rod 120 reciprocates withinthe stemming tube 110 and is independently reciprocated by the cam 50and the linkage indicated generally at 52, as previously mentioned.Specifically, the upper end of the stem ejector rod 120 is pivoted at121 (FIG. 3) to one end of a bell crank lever 123, which lever ispivoted at 123a to ears 127 projecting from the frame. The other end ofthe bell crank lever 123 has a roller 129 (FIG. 3) that bears on thestem ejector cam 50 previously described. A spring 123b is connectedbetween the bell crank lever 123 and the frame to hold the roller 129against the cam 50. As seen in FIGS. 3 and 12, the upper portion of thecore ejector rod 120 mounts a piston 132 that fits within a cylinder 134and this assembly serves simply as a suction mechanism for the stemmingtool, as described in U.S. Pat. to Anderson No. 3,351,114.

Coring Tool The general arrangement of the coring tool C will now bedescribed. The internal construction of this unit and the detailsthereof are not critical to the present invention and the unit disclosedherein is constructed like that of the US. Pat. to Anderson No.3,35l,l14, Nov. 7, 1967 assigned to the FMC Corporation. The coring toolC is slidably mounted on the carriage so that after the knife 180 entersthe fruit the carriage can continue to descend. Linkages extend betweenthe carriage and the coring unit which operate tool elements after thecoring tool is stopped by the fruit and the carriage continues itsdescent.

The frame platform 102,102a and an upper frame platform 140,140a (FIGS.3A and 4) assist in locating the coring tool. The coring tool includes ahousing 142 which is secured to vertical guide rods 144 (FIGS. 3 and 4)that slide in the frame platforms 102a, 140a and which can also slide ina bracket 146 (FIG. 3) projecting from the carriage plate 78. The upperends of the guide rods 144 mount a pad 148 that supports the coring toolon the carriage 12 and establish its normal position on the carriage.Compression springs 150 extend between the frame bracket 140a and theupper end of the housing 142 for the coring tool and hence resilientlyurge the coring tool in its lowermost position on the carriage 12, asdetermined by the pad 148 and the carriage bracket 146 (FIG. 3).

As seen in FIGS. 38 and 4, the housing 142 for the coring tool C ispivotally connected at 155 to a lower operating link 156, the other endof which is pivoted at 157 to a short link 158 pivotally mounted by eye159 on the frame 64. An upper operating link 160 (FIGS. 3A and 4) ispivoted to the coring tool housing 142 at 161 (FIG. 4) and to a link 162on an L-shaped bracket 164 supported by the carriage plate 78 (FIG. 3A).The

6 coring knife projects down from the coring tool (FIG. 3).

As mentioned, the internal construction of the coring unit described isdisclosed completely in the aforesaid U.S. Anderson Pat. No. 3,351,114,and the details thereof are not critical to the present invention. Forpurposes of the present invention it need only be stated that as thecarriage descends, the coring tool C descends also, until the tool isbrought down against the upper end of the pear, after this, the slidemounting of the housing 142 on the carriage by means of the guide rods144 permits further descent of the carriage but the coring tool hangsback, without damage to the pear. However, the operating links 146,160(FIG. 4) are operated by relative motion of the carriage and the coringtool housing and cause further descent of the coring knife 180 into thestem hole previously produced at the stemming tool S as well asproviding a radially outward motion of the coring knife 180. The coringknife 180 is constantly rotated by an internal connection shown in theaforesaid Anderson patent to the flexible shaft 58, which shaft isdriven by the gear box 54 and the motor M in a manner previouslydescribed. As a result of the construction, the previously stemmedfruit, such as a pear in a cup 20 below the coring tool C, will beinternally cored as the carriage continues to descend after it hasbrought the coring tool against the fruit.

Slicing Tool In the apparatus of the present invention, the slicing toolS is provided to halve the previously stemmed and cored fruit, such asthe pears being described by way of example, at the station that followsthe coring station. This operation is performed in a very simple mannerby providing a tapered slicing knife (FIG. 3) which is mounted on a rod192 secured to a plate 193 (FIG. 3A) on the carriage sleeve 13. Theknife 190 has a pilot tip 194 (FIG. 3). Thus the slicing knife 190descends in synchronism with the stemming and coring tools and cuts thepears in the cups 20 disposed at the slicing station into halves, whilethe pears remain in the cups. As will be explained presently, the cupshave jaws which can move somewhat between an open and a closed position.These jaws will have been closed for the stemming and coring operationsin order to center the fruit, but will be opened somewhat for theslicing operation in order to provide clearance for the slicing knifeand so that the two halves produced by the slicing operation can spreadapart slightly and thus obviate crushing of the fruit due to the jawpressure by the cups during the slicing operations.

Fruit Cups FIGS. 5 8 show constructional details of the fruit cups 20and FIGS. 9 and 10 show how these cups are pivotally mounted fordischarge and the discharge station D. FIG. 11 shows how the cup jawscan be opened for the slicing operation, as previously mentioned.

Referring to FIGS. 5 9 for details of the cup construction, each cup 20has a unitary body member 200 which is channeled at its upper fruitreceiving portion to receive opposed jaws 202,204. The body member 200has an annular guide pocket 206 (FIG. 8) which is apertured at 208 (FIG.8) to avoid interference with the descending tools. Projecting upwardlyfrom the annular guide pocket 206 are fixed fruit receiving pocketmembers 210 (FIGS. 5 and 9). The fruit receiving pocket is completed bythe jaws 202,204, previously mentioned. The cup jaws 202,204 are pivotedto the body 200 by means of pins 202a, 204a respectively projectingthrough ears 204 on the fixed body 200 as best seen in the FIG. 7. Asseen in FIG. 6, the jaws 202,204 are geared together for symmetricalopening and closing motion by pairs of interengaging toothed sectors211,212, these sectors also appearing in plan in FIG. 7.

The cup jaw 202 has an operating arm 202b and the cup jaw 204 has asimilar arm 204b (FIGS. 6 and 7). With this construction raising orlowering either arm 202b or 204b will symmetrically open both jaws202,204 and holding either arm in any one position will cause both jawsto remain in a corresponding position.

As previously mentioned, the cups 20 are pivotally mounted at one sideon the turret T so that the jaws can be released for dischargingprocessed fruit. This construction is best seen in FIGS. 5, 9 and 10. Inorder to mount the cups 20 on the turret T, ears 220 are secured to ablock 222 (FIGS. and 10) and this block is secured to the underside ofthe turret T. These ears provide spaced pivotal supports for the cups bymeans of a pivot pin 226 (FIGS. 5 and 9) which extends through the cupbody 200 and the turret ears 220.

The position of each pivotably mounted cup is individually determined bya cam and roller assembly that operates at the discharge station D tolower the cup for discharging the processed fruit. This is accomplishedby connecting a cross plate 228 to the pin 226, previously described,and to a similar pin 226a (FIG. 5) whereby the crossplate is secured tothe cup body 200. At the side of the cup opposite the pivot pin 226,that is adjacent the pin 226a (FIGS. 5 and 9), a cup support roller 230is mounted on a stub shaft 232 that projects radially inwardly from theremote end of the crossplate 228. This roller rides on a cup cam 240which is a barrel type cam disposed below the turret (FIGS; 3 and 4) andwhich has a relieved sector 242 at the discharge station D, best seen inthe developed view of FIG. 10. Thus at every station except thedischarge station D, the roller 230 supports the cups on the upperplanar surface 244 of the cam 240 so that its jaws face upwardly forreceiving and guiding a pear P. At the discharge station D, the roller230 drops into the relief zone 242 of the cup cam allowing the cup atthat station to pivot about the pin 226 to a horizontal position fordischarge of the processed pears P into the chute 59 (FIG. 4). The cupis restored as the roller sides up the cam ramp 242a. This action isclearly shown in the developed view of FIG. 10. Stop bolts 245 (FIG. 10)prevent upward bounce of the raised cups, and stop-bolts 246 limitdownward pivoting of the cups during discharge.

FIG. 11 shows how the cup jaws 202,204 can be opened to accommodate theslicing knife 190 of the slicer S for the purposes previously described.At the slicing station, a link 250 (FIGS. 3 and 11) has a lost motionsliding and pivotal connection 252 (FIG. 3) with the carriagereciprocating bell crank 82. When the carriage descends, the link 250descends. The lower end of the link 250 is slotted at 254 to slide overa fixed guide pin 256 on the lower frame element 60. The link 250carries at its lower end an adjustably mounted cup opening finger 258which is in the path of the jaw opening arm 204b previously described. Aspring 260 between the finger 258 and the lower frame element 60 holdsthe link 250 resiliently in its lowermost position but accommodates someovertravel by the bell crank 82 because of the pin and slot connection252 (FIG. 3) between the link 250 and the bell crank. When the bellcrank arm 82 lowers the carriage, the link 250 is thus moved downwardlyas indicated by the arrow in FIG. 11, and at this time the turret T willhave been indexed to position a cup 20 so that its jaw opening arm 204bis disposed beneath the finger 258. Thus, the descending finger 258opens the jaw 204 and by means of the gear sectors 211, the other jaw202 is opened by an equal amount. This provides clearance for theslicing knife. The cup parts just described are so constructed thatthere is enough friction in the pivotal mountings of the jaws 202,204 sothat they will remain open until they are positively closed in a mannerwhich will now be described.

As just described, the cup jaws 202,204 are opened at the slicingstation, remain open for discharge of the fruit at the discharge stationD, and are still open at the idle station X and at the feed station F.However, after pears have been fed into cups at the feed station, thejaws are closed to center the fruit for the stemming and coringoperations that follow.

The jaw closing function is performed by a pair of resiliently mountedcam rods 270 (FIG. 3) there being one of these cam rods situated toclose the jaws by the time the cup reaches the stemming tool S andanother insures that the jaws are held closed at the coring tool C. Thecam rods 270, which are identical, are pivotally mounted to the lowerportion of the cup cam 240 at 272 and are resiliently held in theiruppermost positions by compression springs 274 (see also FIG. 12). Thesprings 274 surround stop rods 276 depending from the cams 270, andhaving heads that engage brackets 278 on the cup cam for determining theuppermost position of the cam rods 270. Thus, when the cups with theirjaws opened, approach the stemming tool ST at the stemming station, thejaw operating fingers 202b ride over the first cam rod 270 which closesthe jaws. If, by any chance, the jaws open or partially open duringindexing of the cup from the stemming tool to the coring tool, they areagain closed or at least are held closed by the second cam rod 270.There are no cam rods 270 at the other stations of the turret, in orderthat the jaws can be opened at the slicing station by the finger 258, aspreviously described and in order that they will remain open when thecups reach the feed station F.

Stemming Tool Details As previously mentioned, FIGS. 12 17A are step bystep diagrams showing operation of the stemming tool S, the generalconstruction of which has been previously described.

In FIG. 12, a pear P is in the cup 20 at the stemming station below thestemming tool ST and with the jaws 202,204 closed by the cam rod 270 aspreviously described. The carriage 12 is in its uppermost position andthe stemming tube and the core ejector rod are in their uppermost orretracted positions. The hold-down pad 119 is in its lowermost position,being supported by the latch support plate 124 on the bracket 112 of thecarriage. The latch release pin 113 has raised the latch plate 128 toits release position relative to the fixed stop rod 106.

In FIG. 13, the carriage 12 has descended sufficiently to bring thehold-down pad 119 against the upper face of the pear P in the cup andhence the hold-down pad 119, the associated guide rods 122 and latchsupport plate 124 on those rods can move down no further. However, thecarriage l2 continues to descend, lowering the stemming tube 110 towardsthe pear in the cup. The latch release pin 113 on the carriage plate 112is now lowered relative to the immobilized latch support pad 124, whichpermits the latch plate 128 to drop to its latching position relative tothe frame mounted rod 106. However, the latch has no effect on theapparatus at this time because the only part that is moving is thecarriage and the partsassociated therewith, and the latch plate 128operates only on the fixed stop rod 106. The bell crank 123 foroperating the stem ejector rod 120 is moving the ejector rod down withthe stemming tube 110 up to this point, in response to the contour ofthe stem ejector cam 150 (FIG. 3). Further downward motion of thecarriage will cause the stemming tube 110 to move down relative to thestem ejector rod 120 because the contour of the stem ejector cam 50 issuch that the ejector rod is held stationary for a period of time at thecarriage position shown in FIG. 13.

In FIG. 14, the carriage 12 has descended to its lowermost position sothat the stemming tube 110 has cut loose the stem portion W of the pear.Also, as indicated in dotted lines at the top of the figure, themechanism for the stem ejector rod 120 has again been set in motion tolower the stem ejector rod and eject the stem material M from thestemming tube 120 as is also indicated in FIG. 14.

In FIG. 15, the carriage 12 is now being raised by its cam 40 andassociated linkage. This retracts the stemming tube 110 from the stemmedpear in the cup and the stem ejector rod 120 moves upwardly with thestemming tube in response to the contour of the stemming cam 50.

In FIG. 16, the carriage is still rising along with the stemming tube.The stem ejector rod is also being raised at a velocity to match that ofthe carriage.

In both FIGS. 15 and 16, the hold-down pad 119 holds the pear in the cupas the stemming tools are raised. This action is insured by the latchmechanism as is shown in somewhat enlarged form in 15A. Upwardfrictional force exerted by the stemming tube 110 on the stemmed pear,tends to lift the pear from the cup on the retraction motion of thecarriage 12, but is resisted by the hold-down pad 119 acting through thelatch plate 128 against the fixed latch rod 106. As seen in FIG. 3, therod 106 is on the cylindrical guide 104 that in turn is mounted on theframe 102 of the apparatus. A very slight initial upward motion of theholddown pad 119 (in response to the aforesaid lifting action on thepear by stemming tube 120) lifts the latch mechanism relative to thefixed rod 106. This causes the edges of the aperture 128a in the latchplate 128 that surrounds the fixed rod 106 to bite into the rod 106 andprevents further upward motion of the holddown assembly.

The latching effect takes place until the carriage rises to the positionshown in FIGS. 17 and 17A. Here the latch release pin 113 on thecarriage plate 112 engages the latch plate 128 and lifts it slightly,thereby relieving the biting or latching action of that plate againstthe fixed rod 106. Just after this release, the plate 112 that moveswith the carriage engages the latch support pad 124 on the hold-downassembly and causes the entire hold-down assembly to 'move upwardly withthe carriage. The latch plate slides freely up along the fixed latch rod106. Thus, free retraction of the carriage towards its uppermostposition is accommodated until the parts reach the uppermost position ofFIG. 12 for a new cycle. The latch is not released again for futureaction until the carriage reaches the position shown in FIG. 13 on itsnext downward stroke.

Brief Summary of the Operation The operation of the fruit processingmachine of the present invention will now be summarized briefly. Asingle operator tends the machine and as the turret T is indexed andstops, the operator places a peeled pear P in the cup 20 at the feedstation F. The cup will be in its normal upwardly facing condition, andthe jaws 202,204 will be open at this time. The carriage 12 will be inan upper or retracted position.

The Geneva mechanism 14, 16 now indexes the turret T through an angle of60 bringing the newly loaded cup underneath the stemming tool ST. Thejaw operating finger 2021) will ride up on the first spring loaded cam270 (FIGS. 3 and 12) to close the jaws for centering the pear in thecup.

When the freshly loaded cup is stopped beneath the stemming tool ST, thecarriage cam moves the carriage 12 down and retracts it again to performthe stemming operation previously described in detail in connection withFIGS. 12 17.

After the stemming operation is completed the turret is again indexedand the cup containing the stemmed pear is brought beneath the coringtool C. The cup jaws 202,204 are still held in their closed position bythe second cam rod 270 (FIG. 3) during the coring operation to maintainalignment of the fruit in the cup.

The carriage now descends to bring the coring tool down against thefruit whereupon relative motion of the coring tool and the descendingcarriage causes, through the links 156,160 (FIG. 4), advance of thecoring knife into the fruit coupled with a radial motion of the knife toremove the seed cells. The knife 180 is being constantly rotated by themotor 54 and the flexible shaft 58 as previously described. Thisoperation, as mentioned before is described in detail in the aforesaidU.S. Pat. to Anderson No. 3,351,114.

After the coring has been completed, the carriage retracts, and theturret is indexed to bring the cored pear to the slicing tool S. At thistime the carriage again descends to bring the slicing knife down forhalving the fruit in the cup. Before the slicing begins, the descendingcarriage lowers the link 250 (FIGS. 3 and 11) to cause the finger 258 toengage the cup jaw arm 204b and open both jaws 202,204 to provideclearance for the sliced fruit without binding on the slicing knife 190.

The carriage is again retracted to its uppermost position by thecarriage cam 40 and the turret is indexed to bring the cup containingthe cored and halved fruit to the discharge station D. As the cupapproaches the discharge station, the cup supporting roller 230 dropsoff the upper edge 244 (FIG. 10) of the cup cam 240 and falls into therelieved portion 242 of that cam causing the cup to pivot about the pin226 to a horizontal position so that the halved pear P falls out intothe chute 59 (FIG. 4).

The carriage again retracts, raising tools, whereupon the turret indexesanother 60 to the idle station X. Indexing of the turret causes the cupsuppo'rt roller 230 to ride up the ramp portion 224a of the cam 240,thereby restoring the cup to its uppermost position, flush with theturret T, whereupon the upper edge 244 of the cam 240 holds the cup inthat position. The cup will be in substantial engagement with the lowerend of the stop screw 245 (FIG. at this time. The restored cup reachesthe idle station X in a condition ready to receive fruit and with itsjaws remaining in their open condition imparted at the slicing station.

The last indexing of the cup being followed through the machine returnsit to the feed station F for the insertion of another pear. Only asingle cup has been traced through the machine in the precedingoperational description. Actually, the operator will place a pear ineach cup 20 as it reaches the feeding station F and accordingly therewill be a pear under each of the three tools, the stemming tool ST, thecoring tool C and the slicer S so that a halved pear is discharged forevery 60 indexing of the turret T.

Thus it can be seen that a pear can be rapidly stemmed, cored and slicedby a simple apparatus under the attendance of a single operator, whomust only feed pears one at a time to a readily accessible andstationary feed cup. The simplicity and compactness of the machine ofthe present invention renders it useful in certain commercial conditionswherein the more complex horizontal conveyor row-type machine of theaforesaid Anderson patent cannot be economically warranted.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent thatmodification and variation may be made without departing from what isregarded to be the subject matter of the invention.

We claim:

1. Fruit preparation apparatus of the type comprising a frame, ahorizontal plane turret on said frame, a plurality of circumferentiallymounted fruit receiving means mounted on said turret, a singlevertically reciprocating, nonrotatable tool mounting carriage on saidframe, fruit processing tool means all on said carriage, means forming adischarge station for processed fruit, means providing a feed stationbetween said discharge station and said tool means, and drive means foralternately indexing said turret and for reciprocating said carriage tocause said tool means to process the fruit; the improvement wherein saidfruit receiving means comprises a plurality of cups having opposedoperable and closable jaws, said tool means comprising a coring tool anda flat slicing blade for halving the fruit, said blade beingcircumferentially spaced from the coring tool, means for closing saidcup jaws at said coring tool, and means for partially opening said cupjaws at said slicing blade to provide clearance for the blade.

2. Apparatus for coring and slicing fruit of the type comprising aframe, a horizontal plane turret on said frame, circumferentially spacedfruit cups on said turret, a vertically reciprocating carriagenonrotatably mounted on said frame, means forming a discharge stationfor processed fruit, means providing a feed station following saiddischarge station, and drive means for alternately indexing said turretand reciprocating said carriage to process the fruit; the improvementcomprising spaced individual stemming, coring and slicing tools on saidcarriage for simultaneously performing these three operationsindividually on the fruit in three of said fruit cups, said fruit cupsbeing pivotally mounted in their entirety on the turret about radialaxes at one side of the cups, cam means for normally supporting theother side of the cups, in their upwardly facing positions, and cammeans causing said cups to pivot downwardly and rearwardly in theirentirety at said dis charge station and restoring the cups to theirnormal, upwardly facing positions before they return to said feedstation.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said cups are normally supportedwith their upper edges flush with the top of said turret.

4. Apparatus for coring and slicing fruit of the type comprising aframe, a horizontal plane turret on said frame, circumferentially spacedfruit cups on said turret, a vertically reciprocating carriagenonrotatably mounted on said frame, means forming a discharge stationfor processed fruit, means providing a feed station following saiddischarge station, and drive means for alternately indexing said turretand reciprocating said carriage to process the fruit; the improvementcomprising spaced individual stemming, coring and slicing tools on saidcarriage for simultaneously performing these three operationsindividually on the fruit in three of said fruit cups, said cupscomprising opposed jaws that can be partially opened and closed, meansfor partially opening the jaws at said slicing tool, said jaws remainingopen at said feed station, and means for closing said jaws before theyreach said coring tool.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, comprising means for operating said cup jawclosing means to close the jaws in response to descent of said carriage.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said jaw opening means comprisesmechanism coupling the jaws for simultaneous operation, and cam meansbeneath said turret for engagement by an abutment on one of said jaws toclose both jaws.

7. Apparatus for coring and slicing fruit of the type comprising aframe, a horizontal plane turret on said frame, circumferentially spacedfruit receivers on said turret, a vertically reciprocating carriagenonrotatably mounted on said frame, means forming a discharge stationfor processed fruit, means providing a feed station following saiddischarge station, and drive means for alternately indexing said turretand reciprocating said carriage to process the fruit; the improvementcomprising spaced individual stemming, coring and slicing tools on saidcarriage for simultaneously performing these three operationsindividually on the fruit in three of said fruit receivers, a camshafton said frame, a carriage reciprocating cam on said camshaft, camfollower means for reciprocating the entire carriage and the toolstherein, means for driving said camshaft in synchronism with said drivemeans, said stemming tool comprising a stemming tube that moves withsaid carriage and a stem ejector rod slidable in said tube, an ejectorrod reciprocating cam on said camshaft, and ejector rod cam followermeans for independently reciprocating said ejector rod.

8. Apparatus for coring fruit comprising a frame, a generally horizontalplane turret on said frame, a plurality of circumferentially mountedfruit cups pivotally mounted in their entirety on said turret along oneof their sides, the tops of said cups being normally flush with the topof said turret, means for normally holding the cups up in their upwardlyfacing position flush with said turret, a single, verticallyreciprocating, nonrotatable carriage on said frame, processing stationsrespecfor releasing the cups to swing down about their pivots forcausing fruit to be discharged from the cups that leave the last tool,means providing a feed station for a cup disposed between said dischargestation and the first tool, and drive means for alternately indexingsaid turret and moving said carriage down to cause said tools to engageand process the fruit.

1. Fruit preparation apparatus of the type comprising a frame, ahorizontal plane turret on said frame, a plurality of circumferentiallymounted fruit receiving means mounted on said turret, a singlevertically reciprocating, nonrotatable tool mounting carriage on saidframe, fruit processing tool means all on said carriage, means forming adischarge station for processed fruit, means providing a feed stationbetween said discharge station and said tool means, and drive means foralternately indexing said turret and for reciprocating said carriage tocause said tool means to process the fruit; the improvement wherein saidfruit receiving means comprises a plurality of cups having opposedoperable and closable jaws, said tool means comprising a coring tool anda flat slicing blade for halving the fruit, said blade beingcircumferentially spaced from the coring tool, means for closing saidcup jaws at said coring tool, and means for partially opening said cupjaws at said slicing blade to provide clearance for the blade. 2.Apparatus for coring and slicing fruit of the type comprising a frame, ahorizontal plane turret on said frame, circumferentially spaced fruitcups on said turret, a vertically reciprocating carriage nonrotatablymounted on said frame, means forming a discharge station for processedfruit, means providing a feed station following said discharge station,and drive means for alternately indexing said turret and reciprocatingsaid carriage to process the fruit; the improvement comprising spacedindividual stemming, coring and slicing tools on said carriage forsimultaneously performing these three operations individually on thefruit in three of said fruit cups, said fruit cups being pivotallymounted in their entirety on the turret about radial axes at one side ofthe cups, cam means for normally supporting the other side of the cups,in their upwardly facing positions, and cam means causing said cups topivot downwardly and rearwardly in their entirety at said dischargestation and restoring the cups to their normal, upwardly facingpositions before they return to said feed station.
 3. The apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein said cups are normally supported with their upper edgesflush with the top of said turret.
 4. Apparatus for coring and slicingfruit of the type comprising a frame, a horizontal plane turret on saidframe, circumferentially spaced fruit cups on said turret, a verticallyreciprocating carriage nonrotatably mounted on said frame, means forminga discharge station for processed fruit, means providing a feed stationfollowing said discharge station, and drive means for alternatelyindexing saiD turret and reciprocating said carriage to process thefruit; the improvement comprising spaced individual stemming, coring andslicing tools on said carriage for simultaneously performing these threeoperations individually on the fruit in three of said fruit cups, saidcups comprising opposed jaws that can be partially opened and closed,means for partially opening the jaws at said slicing tool, said jawsremaining open at said feed station, and means for closing said jawsbefore they reach said coring tool.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4,comprising means for operating said cup jaw closing means to close thejaws in response to descent of said carriage.
 6. The apparatus of claim5, wherein said jaw opening means comprises mechanism coupling the jawsfor simultaneous operation, and cam means beneath said turret forengagement by an abutment on one of said jaws to close both jaws. 7.Apparatus for coring and slicing fruit of the type comprising a frame, ahorizontal plane turret on said frame, circumferentially spaced fruitreceivers on said turret, a vertically reciprocating carriagenonrotatably mounted on said frame, means forming a discharge stationfor processed fruit, means providing a feed station following saiddischarge station, and drive means for alternately indexing said turretand reciprocating said carriage to process the fruit; the improvementcomprising spaced individual stemming, coring and slicing tools on saidcarriage for simultaneously performing these three operationsindividually on the fruit in three of said fruit receivers, a camshafton said frame, a carriage reciprocating cam on said camshaft, camfollower means for reciprocating the entire carriage and the toolstherein, means for driving said camshaft in synchronism with said drivemeans, said stemming tool comprising a stemming tube that moves withsaid carriage and a stem ejector rod slidable in said tube, an ejectorrod reciprocating cam on said camshaft, and ejector rod cam followermeans for independently reciprocating said ejector rod.
 8. Apparatus forcoring fruit comprising a frame, a generally horizontal plane turret onsaid frame, a plurality of circumferentially mounted fruit cupspivotally mounted in their entirety on said turret along one of theirsides, the tops of said cups being normally flush with the top of saidturret, means for normally holding the cups up in their upwardly facingposition flush with said turret, a single, vertically reciprocating,nonrotatable carriage on said frame, processing stations respectivelycomprising circumferentially spaced individually different coring toolsall supported on said single carriage for simultaneous vertical motionwith the carriage, means mounting said coring tools on said carriage foraccommodating additional descent of the carriage after the tools engagefruits on said cups, said tools simultaneously performing differentcoring operations on fruit in said cups, means at a discharge stationfor releasing the cups to swing down about their pivots for causingfruit to be discharged from the cups that leave the last tool, meansproviding a feed station for a cup disposed between said dischargestation and the first tool, and drive means for alternately indexingsaid turret and moving said carriage down to cause said tools to engageand process the fruit.